Sparking ignition device.



No. 845,354. PATENTED FEB. 26, 1907.-

G. T. HILDBBRANDT. SPARKING IGNITION DEVICE.

APPLIGAIIOE rum) r23. 17. 1905.

TI SHEETS-SHEET 1.

UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE;

' CHARLES T. HILDEBRAYDT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF I TO EVERETT W. BROOKS, OF OHIOAGO, ILLINOIS.

sPAnKme IGNITION DEVICE- 'To all whom it concern:

.Be it known that I, CHAaLEs- T. HILDE- BRANDT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and Stateof Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sparking Ignition Devices, of which the following is a specification.

Tl s invention relates to-improvements in ignition devices more particularly adaptable to gas and vapor engines, and refers more particularly to anelectricalsparking device. The principal object of the invention is to provide ade-vice which shall be certain and reliable in its operation and shall be capable of easy manual adjustmentthrough a readily: accessible adjusting means to vary the time at wLich the sparking occurs relatively to the movement of the piston of the engine; and to this end the invention consists in a novel ad- 'ustal le sparkingwdevice, substantially as hereinafter descri d, and more particularly inted out in the claims. The invention has been designed more particularly as an improvement upon the spark- E. W. Brooks, No. 737,202, August 25, 1903,

' and in order that the improvement may be ismaa are old and disclosed in the aforesaid Letters Patent.

full understood I-will first briefly describe suc Ip'arts of the valve andignition mechan- In the drawin which illustrate the pre ferred mechanica "embodiment-of the. invenanism of my improved igniter.

tion, Fi re 1. is a side elevalional view of the valve 0 an engine; showing theapplicatron of my improved adjustable ignition device thereto. Fig. '2 is a vertical sectional view taken in theplane'ol the axis of the valve of the engine and illustrating the interior mech- Fig. 3 is a Iti'ansverse sectional view on the offset line 3 3 .of Fig. 1, and Fig.4 is a detail cross-sectional view on the line 4 4 'of Fig. 2.

The present. invention is herein shown as built upon the ignition device disclosed in the Letters Patent to Brooks hereinabove eferred to, the invention of the said Brooks patent being shown as embodied in connec 0 tion with an engine em laying a rotary valve, such as 18 shown an Specification of Letters Patent. Application am February 17. 1905. Serial No. miss.

disclosed inLetters Patent to.

Patented rat. 2a, 1907.

as are old in either orboth of the Letters Pat- 'ent above referred to, 5 designates a rotary valve-body arran ed within a suitable valvecasin' 6, provide with inlet and outlet ports 7 &X1( 8, respectively, which communicate with the interior of the cylinder and which are adapted to be opened and closed at. the

prpiper times by the rotation of the valve 0 y 5, having inlet and exhaust passages 9 and 10, respectively, formed therein. The valve 5 is rotated continuously, the gas being admitted at one part of the r'evolution an exhausted during another part of tlie revolu- I tion, or, in other words, therev is an explosion and corresponding exhaust for each revolution of the valve. i 4

Referring now more. articularly to the igniter'mecl. anism, 11 designates an annular roove formed in the. valve-body at a point etween the two ports 9 and 10 and forming in conjunction with the casin of the valve a closed annular chamber, which communicates with the interior of the engine throu h a gas passage 12, extending downward through the casing at a point in register wit said groove.

13 designates a cam projection formed or secured within the annular groove 11 and provided with a cam-surface 14 .'whioh extends eccentricallyto the axis of the valvebod and terminates at its rear end, considerer with reference to the direction of movementof the valve-body, in an abru t drop or shoulder 15, the opposite end of t -e earn being inclined gradually, so as to move.-

smootl" 1y into engagement with a wiper.

16 designates a sprin -pressed plunger, the lower end 17 of W ich constitutes a wiper adapted to cooperate with the cam 13 and forms incon unction therewith a circuit-interrupter or sparking device. This lunger 16, as shown and described in the Jetters Patent to Brooks'heiieinabove referred to, extends radiall outward through the casing 6, beingi ed in a sleeve 18, which is surrounded y an insulating-sleeve 19, mounted in a threaded casing 21, said threaded casinghaving on its u per end an integral nut 30, by which it is a 1usted, and a jam-nut 31. To the upper end of the tubu lar guide 18 is scredved a tubular cap 3 2, containing a spring '20, normally ressing the lunger .16' u n the cam an carrying a inding-post 3 for one of the'wires 34, the

nap-kw other wire being shown at 35. However, instead of mounting the plunger and its sur- 21, which carries said parts. in and through a rocking block 22. \YlIiL'lYldOPli is of a generally quadrant shape, as shown in Fig. 3, g and snugly [its a correspondingly-shaped j slot or seat .3, formed in the upper part. of

the valve-casing and extending in a direction transversely of the valve-body and in verti- 5 cal ahnement with the annular lgnition- 3 chamber 11, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. p In order to rovide for an ad ustment of this rocking book, I provide the same with oppo- 5 site laterally-extendmg pint-les which 5 ployed in association with a rotary valve or are journaled in bearing-blocksZ-l, mounted 1 on the upper face of the valve-casing, as

' prising a pinion 25 on the end of a shaft 2o.

lainly shown in Fig. 1. As will be seen in l ig. 2, the segment-block 2'2 is cored or chambered and internally threaded to receive the externally-threaded tubular member 21, carrying the )lunger, which tubular member can be readily screwed into the segment-block the requisite distance to produce the desired wiping ell'ect between the contacting elements of the igniter and secured by the jam-nut 31. The segment block 22 is mounted to swing above and in a direction transversely of the valve and longitudinallyot' the path of travel of the ignitercam 13. It is evident, therefore, than an adjustment of said segment-block in one direction or the other will can: the tip of the wiper 17 to one side or the other of the vertical plane in which lies the longitudinal axis of the valve-body, as clearly shown in Fig. 4, whereby the interruption and consequent sparking between the two electrodes of the igniter will occur sooner or latcrin the circular travel of the cam 13, according to the adjustment of the reciprocating wiper 1T. 5

Any suitable 0r convenient means may be on said rotatable valve in sai employed for ell'ecting the adjustment of the f bcr, a pivoted segment-block mounted on segment-block carryin the reciprocating i said valve-casing and ad ustable longitudisparker element, that ierein shown comrotatably mounted In suitable bearings 27 and 28 0n the outer surface of the valve-casing 6,'said pinion engaging a segmental rack 29 on the upwardly and outwardly extending edge of the scgment'block, it being understood that the outer end of the shalt 26 will be provided with any suitable actuating means, or where the device is employed in,

connection with a motor-vehicle will be suitably geared to an operating handle or wheel rounding and actuating parts rigidlv in the within convenient reach of the operator. valve-casing l mount the threaded casing connection with and as an improvement While I have described my lnvent-ion in upon the ignitcr mechanism shown in the patent to Brooks hereinabove referred to and while it has been more especially designed for use in connection therewith, yet the adjusting means for the reeiprocatory member of the igniter constituting the chief novel element of the invention is obviously capable of use generally in c0nnection with igmters employing a rotating cam or its equivalent, whether this latter be ernotherwise. Hence I do not, except to the. extent indicated in specific claims, limit the invention to its association or combination with the parts herein above described as old in the prior patents hereinabove referred to.

I claim- 1. In an ignition device for engines, the combination with a rotatable cam constitute ing one contacting element of a sparker, of a spiing-pressed plunger the lower end whereof is adapted to wipe over said cam, a ivoted segment-block constituting a carrier or said spring-pressed plunger so mounted as to be adjustable longitudinally of the path of travel of said cam, said segment-block having a segmentrack formed thereon, a pinion engaging said segmentrac-k, and a suitablymounted actuating-shaft for said pinion, sul:stantiall v as described.

2. In a gas-engine, the combination with a valvecasing and a rotatable valve therein suitably ported to control the inlet and exhaust of the engine, of an ignition-chamber formed in said valve and communicating with the engine-cylinder, a cam constituting one contacting element of a s )arker mounted i igrL'tion-charnnallv ol' the atii of travel of said cam, a spring-pressct. plunger mounted in said seg- 1 mcnt-block the. lower end whereof is adapted to wipe over said cam, and means for adjusting said segmentblock, substantially as de- 

